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Penn St fined $60M, wins vacated from '98-11

By TOM COYNE and RALPH D. RUSSO, AP

INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA slammed Penn State with an unprecedented series of penalties Monday, including a $60 million fine and the loss of all coach Joe Paterno's victories from 1998-2011, in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

Other sanctions include a four-year ban on bowl games, the loss of 20 scholarships per year over four years and five years' probation. The NCAA also said that any current or incoming football players are free to immediately transfer and compete at another school.

NCAA President Mark Emmert announced the staggering sanctions at a news conference in Indianapolis. Though the NCAA stopped short of imposing the "death penalty" — shutting down the Nittany Lions' program completely — the punishment is still crippling for a team that is trying to start over with a new coach and a new outlook.

Sandusky, a former Penn State defensive coordinator, was found guilty in June of sexually abusing young boys, sometimes on campus. An investigation commissioned by the school and released July 12 found that Paterno, who died in January, and several other top officials at Penn State stayed quiet for years about accusations against Sandusky.

Emmert fast-tracked penalties rather than go through the usual circuitous series of investigations and hearings. The NCAA said the $60 million is equivalent to the annual gross revenue of the football program. The money must be paid into an endowment for external programs preventing child sexual abuse or assisting victims and may not be used to fund such programs at Penn State.

"Football will never again be placed ahead of educating, nurturing and protecting young people," Emmert said.

Emmert had earlier said he had "never seen anything as egregious" as the horrific crimes of Sandusky and the cover-up by Paterno and others at the university, including former Penn State President Graham Spanier and athletic director Tim Curley.

The investigation headed by former FBI Director Louis Freeh said that Penn State officials kept what they knew from police and other authorities for years, enabling the abuse to go on.

There had been calls across the nation for Penn State to receive the "death penalty," and Emmert had not ruled out that possibility as late as last week — though Penn State did not fit the criteria for it. That punishment is for teams that commit a major violation while already being sanctioned.

Born in Uniontwon P.A. ready to get back to the Pittsburgh area by 2017

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When you really look at it, this is worse than the death penalty, this will take longer to get over! Hell SMU never really got over it! I don`t understand the wins? Why take it away from the players? Hopefully Jerry Sandusky will die a long slow painful death!

This is definitely worse than the death penalty. No bowl games for 4 years and the Big Ten took away 13 million in their bowl share revenue as well. No Big Ten championship game either.

This doesn't help the situation at all but it punishes all the kids there who had nothing to do with it. If I was them I'd be transferring out in a heart beat. No chance to showcase yourself in a bowl game, or championship game. You're record there is tarnished now even though you didn't do anything. You go Penn State and now it's a horrible thing.

Removing all those wins though, hell now all those players never won a game in their entire college career.

I wonder too how this punishes Sandusky ,and those who enabled the abuse to go on. This seems to hurt the kids in the program now and the other sports at the school that are funded by the money the football program generates... I know that there needed to be some accountability by the school but how does anyone know what is appropriate if the rest of the school officials didn't know about it...

How else would you like them to punish Sandusky? This has nothing to do with him it's has everything to do with punishing the school.

"Football will never again be placed ahead of educating, nurturing and protecting young people," Emmert said.

You have to feel sorry for the current players I agree, but they can transfer, or keep their scholarships and not play. It would be impossible to punish the school without effecting current players. I think they did a good job at helping them. If they are elite players I'd guess their phones have been ringing off the hook with offers.

As far as taking Joe's wins away. I'd have to guess that the Bowden comment was a joke. Joe doesn't deserve to have have them. Maybe from 98-2001 but certainly not after that. He's not this holier than thou person that he made himself out to be for so many years. If he would have done the right thing he would be #1, now he's number 5 and we all know nobody remembers who the 5th best is.

"When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself."
-Wayne Dyer

Turning a blind eye is just as bad as what Sandusky did.........Yes I'm in the opinion that Joe Pa should have done more........this is whole story is really upsetting to me and I really hate talking about it....I do feel bad for the people at Penn State that were innocent and did no wrong but the punishment had to be severe...........